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Cultures & Communities

Furniture, cooking wares, clothing, works of art, and many other kinds of artifacts are part of what knit people into communities and cultures. The Museum’s collections feature artifacts from European Americans, Latinos, Arab Americans, Asian Pacific Americans, African Americans, Gypsies, Jews, and Christians, both Catholics and Protestants. The objects range from ceramic face jugs made by enslaved African Americans in South Carolina to graduation robes and wedding gowns. The holdings also include artifacts associated with education, such as teaching equipment, textbooks, and two complete schoolrooms. Uniforms, insignia, and other objects represent a wide variety of civic and voluntary organizations, including youth and fraternal groups, scouting, police forces, and firefighters.

This medium-sized sperm whale tooth is polished and carved on two sides. On the obverse, an elaborately-dressed man and woman walk away from the viewer, beneath an arch of laurel leaves on a vine. The man wears a royal or military uniform, complete with sash and decorated hem. The woman is dressed in an elaborate gown, wears a string of pearls around her neck and has a crown atop her head. Her head, neck and arms are pinpricked, but the dots have not been connected to form an outline. The perimeters of both figures are heavily pinpricked, but not infilled.

The reverse of the tooth is decorated with the figure of a large long-haired woman, with an unhappy expression on her face. Unusually, her hair is not tied up or bound into a hairdo but hangs straight down her front and back. She too has an elaborate gown with ermine insets in the skirt, and she wears an ermine shawl or cape around her shoulders. Her arms, head and overall perimeter are heavily pinpricked but not completely infilled, like the couple on the front of the tooth.

Together, these figures appear to be operatic or theatrical, from the richness of their costumes and their expressive postures. The presence of the pinpricked figural outlines and details demonstrates that a picture was cut from a contemporary newspaper or magazine and pasted on the polished surface before the carving was executed. Most of the carver's hard work was finished; it is unclear why the tooth was never completed.

This large sperm whale tooth has a satyr-like male figure with a horned mask posed in two scenes on obverse and reverse in a sexual embrace with a full-bodied maenad, or mythological female figure associated with the Roman god Bacchus. The subjects of this tooth, along with their shading and poses, argue for a modern carver, who worked freehand. In the 19th century Victorian period, such a tooth would have offended contemporary sensibilities; as a consequence, authentic erotic scrimshaw of the period is exceedingly rare.

The obverse of this sperm whale tooth is carved with a freehand drawing of a three masted ship sailing from right to left. All sails are set and filled with wind, as the ship moves over the sea. The carving is deep, intricate and highly detailed, showing confidence and experience on the part of the artist. The reverse depicts a freehand drawing of the bust of a young woman in a fancy dress. She has large hoop earrings and an elaborate hat decorated with flowers. The portrait is surrounded by an oval frame. Normally, scrimshaw carving was infilled with lamp black, which made the etched lines stand out. On this tooth, however, the artist chose to infill with a light red or orange color, which has faded with time. This results in very faint lines that do not showcase the artist's obvious talent.

This small sperm whale's tooth is highly polished, but only has an unfinished freehand carving on one side. Identifiable by the whaleboats on davits along the right or starboard side, a small three-masted whaleship sails from left to right on a choppy sea. The ship's hull is deeply carved and detailed, but the sails are only outlined, with some sketchy standing rigging just started by the artist.

One side of this freehand engraved sperm whale tooth depicts a three-masted whaleship. All the masts, spars and rigging are carefully detailed, but no sails. Three whaleboats swing on the port side davits ready for deployment. Above is a banner with the ship name Janet and a date of 1856. In 1856, a whaling bark named Janet from Westport, MA was on a very successful whaling voyage in the Indian Ocean, bringing home 249 barrels of whale oil and 4,500 pounds of bone in 1858. Above the banner is an anchor with the initials "E.B."

On the other side is an eagle with spread wings and a laurel branch in its beak. In its talons is a fork-tongued snake. Above the bird is a banner marked "EDWARD BAKER PROVIDENCE", over which is an ornate metal vase containing palm fronds.

Scrimshaw began in the late 18th or early 19th century as the art of carving whale bone and ivory aboard whale ships. The crew on whalers had plenty of leisure time between sighting and chasing whales, and the hard parts of whales were readily available on voyages that could last up to four years.

In its simplest form, a tooth was removed from the lower jaw of a sperm whale and the surface was prepared by scraping and sanding until it was smooth. The easiest way to begin an etching was to smooth a print over the tooth, prick the outline of the image with a needle and then “connect-the-dots” once the paper was removed. This allowed even unskilled craftsmen to create fine carvings. Some sailors were skilled enough to etch their drawings freehand. After the lines were finished, they were filled in with lamp black or sometimes colored pigments.

Scrimshaw could be decorative, like simple sperm whale teeth, or it could be useful, as in ivory napkin rings, corset busks (stiffeners), swifts for winding yarn or pie crimpers. The sailor’s hand-carved scrimshaw was then given to loved ones back on shore as souvenirs of the hard and lonely life aboard long and dangerous voyages.

This finely-engraved sperm whale tooth celebrates the port of Salem, MA in the mid-19th century. On the front is a full-rigged three-masted ship sailing in a heavy sea; a large cloud dominates the scene. Below is a banner bearing the inscription "WITCH OF THE WAVE/The Pride of Salem". The back of the tooth is covered with an isometric view of Derby Wharf in Salem, Massachusetts, with two ships tied up at the wharf and a third approaching from the right.

Elias Hasket Derby (1739-1799) of Salem, MA was America's first millionaire, and his family's wharf dominated Salem's waterfront for generations. Salem was the largest and most important New England port in the United States until the War of 1812, when Boston took over that honor.

Measuring 220 feet long by 40 feet in beam and 1,498 tons, Witch of the Wave was an extreme clipper ship built in 1851 for the California Gold Rush and the China tea trade. On its first voyage from China to London, Witch transported 19,000 chests of the finest teas for sale. In the mid-1850s, Witch so impressed the Batavia merchants in that port that it was purchased by Dutch merchants. It sailed out of Amsterdam until 1871, when it dropped out of the record.

Scrimshaw began in the late 18th or early 19th century as the art of carving whale bone and ivory aboard whale ships. The crew on whalers had plenty of leisure time between sighting and chasing whales, and the hard parts of whales were readily available on voyages that could last up to four years.

In its simplest form, a tooth was removed from the lower jaw of a sperm whale and the surface was prepared by scraping and sanding until it was smooth. The easiest way to begin an etching was to smooth a print over the tooth, prick the outline of the image with a needle and then “connect the dots” once the paper was removed. This allowed even unskilled craftsmen to create intricate, fine-lined carvings. Some sailors were skilled enough to etch their drawings freehand. After the lines were finished, they were filled in with lamp black or sometimes colored pigments.

Scrimshaw could be decorative, like simple sperm whale teeth, or it could be useful, as in ivory napkin rings, corset busks (stiffeners), swifts for winding yarn or pie crimpers. The sailor’s hand-carved scrimshaw was then given to loved ones back on shore as souvenirs of the hard and lonely life aboard long and dangerous voyages.

The obverse of this large, highly polished sperm whale tooth has a large whaleship carved into its surface, sailing away from the viewer with all sails set. Two empty whaleboat davits on the starboard or right side indicate that the boats are actively hunting. An etched sawtooth frame encircles the ship. The other side is carved with an eagle with outstretched wings; in one talon it grips three arrows and in the other is a leafy vine. In its beak is a long banner containing the words (from top to bottom) "ABRAHAM CARR/1853/SAG HARBOUR L.I." Like the front, the eagle and banner are framed by a sawtooth pattern, and the entire tooth has a swag top and bottom encircling both sides of the tooth. In the 19th century, Sag Harbor, NY was a major Atlantic whaling port. The fine detail of this freehand-drawn tooth indicates a highly skilled and experienced scrimshaw artist.

Scrimshaw began in the late 18th or early 19th century as the art of carving whale bone and ivory aboard whale ships. The crew on whalers had plenty of leisure time between sighting and chasing whales, and the hard parts of whales were readily available on voyages that could last up to four years.

In its simplest form, a tooth was removed from the lower jaw of a sperm whale and the surface was prepared by scraping and sanding until it was smooth. The easiest way to begin an etching was to smooth a print over the tooth, prick the outline of the image with a needle and then “connect-the-dots” once the paper was removed. This allowed even unskilled craftsmen to create fine carvings. Some sailors were skilled enough to etch their drawings freehand. After the lines were finished, they were filled in with lamp black or sometimes colored pigments.

Scrimshaw could be decorative, like simple sperm whale teeth, or it could be useful, as in ivory napkin rings, corset busks (stiffeners), swifts for winding yarn or pie crimpers. The sailor’s hand-carved scrimshaw was then given to loved ones back on shore as souvenirs of the hard and lonely life aboard long and dangerous voyages.

A large three-masted oceangoing Chinese junk is etched on the front of this sperm whale tooth, complete with elaborate stern carvings of dragons and floral motifs. Along the stern is written vertically in cursive "this here boat is a chinese junk, such as seen in chinese seas 1847." The other side is decorated with a cameo bust portrait of a neatly dressed man with a well-tended beard; in cursive he is identified as "Capt. Josiah Ellison." The oval portrait is framed with a leafy vine. The carving and writing are freehand, indicating an experienced artist, but the degree of detail in the ship and captain's portraits indicates that the artist worked from illustrations for his images rather than memory.

Scrimshaw began in the late 18th or early 19th century as the art of carving whale bone and ivory aboard whale ships. The crew on whalers had plenty of leisure time between sighting and chasing whales, and the hard parts of whales were readily available on voyages that could last up to four years.

In its simplest form, a tooth was removed from the lower jaw of a sperm whale and the surface was prepared by scraping and sanding until it was smooth. The easiest way to begin an etching was to smooth a print over the tooth, prick the outline of the image with a needle and then “connect-the-dots” once the paper was removed. This allowed even unskilled craftsmen to create fine carvings. Some sailors were skilled enough to etch their drawings freehand. After the lines were finished, they were filled in with lamp black or sometimes colored pigments.

Scrimshaw could be decorative, like simple sperm whale teeth, or it could be useful, as in ivory napkin rings, corset busks (stiffeners), swifts for winding yarn or pie crimpers. The sailor’s hand-carved scrimshaw was then given to loved ones back on shore as souvenirs of the hard and lonely life aboard long and dangerous voyages.

The obverse of this large, flat sperm whale tooth is etched with a large, full-rigged ship with all sails set, driving from left to right towards the viewer. The yards or horizontal spars are deeply pinpricked, but the rest of the ship was carved freehand. The scene has an oval frame with a running vine along its centerline. On the back, an elegant compass rose marked with the four compass directions N, S, E & W is carved, surmounted by a banner with "EMERALD/JOBE HICKS" etched into its surface. Above is the date 1867.

The ship lacks boat davits or any other whaling attributes and the last whaling ship named Emerald completed its final whaling voyage in 1866, so the vessel is identified as a merchant vessel. Jobe Hicks was likely the artist who carved the tooth.

Scrimshaw began in the late 18th or early 19th century as the art of carving whale bone and ivory aboard whale ships. The crew on whalers had plenty of leisure time between sighting and chasing whales, and the hard parts of whales were readily available on voyages that could last up to four years.

In its simplest form, a tooth was removed from the lower jaw of a sperm whale and the surface was prepared by scraping and sanding until it was smooth. The easiest way to begin an etching was to smooth a print over the tooth, prick the outline of the image with a needle and then “connect-the-dots” once the paper was removed. This allowed even unskilled craftsmen to create fine carvings. Some sailors were skilled enough to etch their drawings freehand. After the lines were finished, they were filled in with lamp black or sometimes colored pigments.

Scrimshaw could be decorative, like simple sperm whale teeth, or it could be useful, as in ivory napkin rings, corset busks (stiffeners), swifts for winding yarn or pie crimpers. The sailor’s hand-carved scrimshaw was then given to loved ones back on shore as souvenirs of the hard and lonely life aboard long and dangerous voyages.

Palm trees on the left side of this whaling scene identify the setting as the Pacific Ocean. In the center, a whaleboat with five rowers and a boatsteerer head for a whale blowing, or exhaling through the blowhole on top of its head. A harpooner is braced in the bow to drive an iron into the whale's back. Fluffy clouds overhead frame the scene; in the right background, an American whaling ship has all sails set and is making for the whaleboat. Below the scene in a deeply pricked oval are the dotted initials "E.A.P."—probably the scrimshaw artist's initials. The backside of the tooth is roughly sanded and undecorated.

Scrimshaw began in the late 18th or early 19th century as the art of carving whale bone and ivory aboard whale ships. The crew on whalers had plenty of leisure time between sighting and chasing whales, and the hard parts of whales were readily available on voyages that could last up to four years.

In its simplest form, a tooth was removed from the lower jaw of a sperm whale and the surface was prepared by scraping and sanding until it was smooth. The easiest way to begin an etching was to smooth a print over the tooth, prick the outline of the image with a needle and then “connect-the-dots” once the paper was removed. This allowed even unskilled craftsmen to create fine carvings. Some sailors were skilled enough to etch their drawings freehand. After the lines were finished, they were filled in with lamp black or sometimes colored pigments.

Scrimshaw could be decorative, like simple sperm whale teeth, or it could be useful, as in ivory napkin rings, corset busks (stiffeners), swifts for winding yarn or pie crimpers. The sailor’s hand-carved scrimshaw was then given to loved ones back on shore as souvenirs of the hard and lonely life aboard long and dangerous voyages.